Building the Ultimate Utility Bike for Oregon Manifest

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Oregon Manifest is a non-profit that aims to show that bikes can make the world a better place. The Portland-based organization celebrates the craft, design, and innovation of bicycles by leading an biennial national competition that challenges top bike builders to create the ultimate utility bike, which can both survive a rigorous road trial and integrate seamlessly into everyday life.

For Oregon Manifest, the utility bike is the transportation mode of the future for millions of Americans who want to live healthier, more sustainable lives, but don’t think of themselves as cyclists. But the two-wheeled revolution, according to the organization, won’t come on the saddle of a race bike or a specialty bike — and that’s the challenge.

In response, a team of designers from IDEO (Adam Vollmer, Kyle Doerksen, Purin Phanichphant, Robin Bigio, and Adam Reineck) partnered with Rock Lobster Custom Cycles (Paul Sadoff) to design and build a bike with an integrated electric hub motor, lithium-ion battery pack, and custom cycle computer for seamless electric pedal assist when desired. Enthusiasm for the bike was so great that Vollmer left IDEO to start a new company around the bike, Faraday Bicycles. [Learn more about Faraday Bicycles at FaradayBikes.com.]

A quick-release front rack mechanism allows riders to rapidly add, remove, or exchange various cargo-carrying accessories. The bike also includes built-in high-powered front and rear lights with ambient light sensing and a hand-made leather bag with details, grips, steam-bent ash fenders, and other custom accessories.

With the Faraday, the IDEO-Rock Lobster team sought to capture the advantages that an electric-assist utility bicycle might bring to a hilly city like San Francisco, while overcoming many of the drawbacks that hamper existing e-bike designs. The Faraday is first and foremost a high quality bicycle. Everything from the bicycle’s electronics to its controls have been designed to disappear seamlessly into the bike’s design, which can be described as classic with a modern twist. Even the algorithm that powers the electric motor is so smooth and intuitive as to be almost imperceptible.

The IDEO-Rock Lobster team drew inspiration from both history and childhood to create an everyday performance machine. A mantra for the team was, “You loved bicycling when you were a kid — why stop?” The bike’s name, the Faraday, pays homage to 19th century scientist Michael Faraday, whose work in electromagnetism helped pave the way for today’s safe electric motors (the “y” in the Faraday logo ends in a whimsical electrical plug).

As part of the 2011 Challenge’s Oregon Manifest Field Test, the Faraday joined 33 other teams of designers and handcrafted bike builders in 51 miles of grueling hills, byways, and off-road descents. The trek included several on and off-road checkpoints where mandatory features of each bike were evaluated. The Field Test also required that riders kept pace, showing that the bikes were well-crafted and assembled.

CNET’s Jay Greene wrote that the Faraday’s design may have been “the most daring” of the entrants. “There’s something dramatically different about this e-bike. First, it looks a lot like a classic upright bike. It features some charming design touches, such as steam-bent wood fenders and a classic leather saddle, that make it elegant. But perhaps most important, the pedal-assist doesn’t overwhelm. It’s not so powerful that riders can simply stop pedaling and go for cruise. That might be just enough to get non-cyclists in the saddle.”

The IDEO-Rock Lobster bicycle, along with the two other Creative Collaboration bikes and winners of the Constructor’s Design Challenge, will be on display at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Oregon through October. Open judging of the three Creative Collaboration bikes, including the Faraday, will take place online at the Oregon Manifest website beginning September 29th, with winners of the “People’s Choice” award announced on October 7th. Reviews of the Faraday can be found on CNET, Core77, and BikePortland.org, along with a journal of its build over the past eight months on Core77.

Oregon Manifest is a non-profit that aims to show that bikes can make the world a better place. The Portland-based organization celebrates the craft, design, and innovation of bicycles by leading an biennial national competition that challenges top bike builders to create the ultimate utility bike, which can both survive a rigorous road trial and integrate seamlessly into everyday life.

For Oregon Manifest, the utility bike is the transportation mode of the future for millions of Americans who want to live healthier, more sustainable lives, but don’t think of themselves as cyclists. But the two-wheeled revolution, according to the organization, won’t come on the saddle of a race bike or a specialty bike — and that’s the challenge.